THE BALKANS What Next? N°124 - 2001

GOING HOME Eritrea

VOLUME 3 • NUMBER 124 • 2001

Editor: Ray Wilkinson French editor: Mounira Skandrani Contributors: Astrid van Genderen Stort, Udo Janz, Tony Land, Andrej Mahecic, Vesna Petkovic, Aida Pobric, Maki Shinohara, Kirsten Young and EDITORIAL the UNHCR field staff throughout 2 the Balkans CS•YUG•2001 The Balkans at another crossroads. Editorial assistant: Virginia Zekrya Photo department: COVER STORY Suzy Hopper, Anne Kellner 4

Design: UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ The Balkans are again at Many people have already gone home, but there Vincent Winter Associés a crossroads, with the are 1.3 million civilians still displaced in the Production: 4 future direction very Balkans and yet another new crisis is facing the unclear. Françoise Peyroux The former Yugoslav region. Republic of Macedonia has Administration: teetered on the edge of a By Ray Wilkinson Anne-Marie Le Galliard major civil war since the Chronology Distribution: beginning of the year. John O’Connor, Frédéric Tissot Hundreds of thousands of A history of the Balkan problem. civilians have returned home Good neighbors Map: from earlier 1990s conflicts UNHCR - Mapping Unit in the region, but an A Kosovar family repays a favor to Macedonian estimated 1.3 million are still refugees. Historical documents: uprooted. UNHCR Archives Gorazde A new face for a “living hell.” Refugees is published by the Public Information Section of the United Nations High Commissioner for CS•BIH•1996 16 CENTERFOLD MAP Refugees. The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of A roundup of Balkan events. UNHCR. The designations and maps Seeking the truth used do not imply the expression of any

opinion or recognition on the part of UNHCR/M. VACCA/ Truth is never exact in the Balkans. UNHCR concerning the legal status of Along with other U.N. Minorities a territory or of its authorities. protected enclaves, Life has been particularly tough for the smallest Gorazde became a Refugees reserves the right to edit all 12 minorities. articles before publication. Articles and symbol of the war in Bosnia. photos not covered by copyright © may There have been some be reprinted without prior permission. startling changes in the last ERITREA Please credit UNHCR and the few years. 26 photographer. Glossy prints and slide One of the world’s oldest refugee communities duplicates of photographs not covered goes home. by copyright © may be made available for professional use only. By Newton Kanhema and Wendy Rappeport CS•ERI•2001 30 PEOPLE AND PLACES English and French editions printed in Italy by AMILCARE PIZZI S.p.A., QUOTE UNQUOTE Milan. UNHCR/S. BONESS/ 31 Circulation: 227,500 in English, One of the world’s French, German, Italian, Japanese, oldest and largest Spanish, Arabic, Russian and refugee communities Chinese. 26 is finally going home—from Sudan to Eritrea. ISSN 0252-791 X

Cover: Pondering the future. © S. SALGADO/BIH•1994

UNHCR P.O. Box 2500 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland www.unhcr.org

REFUGEES 3 THE EDITOR’S DESK

Is the glass half full or half empty?

t was one of those troubling paradoxes Herzegovina going back to sensitive areas where they which so characterizes the Balkans. Even as ethnic will be minorities accelerated in the last two years. Even Albanian and Macedonian leaders prepared to sign Serbia, for so long regarded as an instigator of ethnic I cleansing, for the first time welcomed back groups of

ALB•1999 minority ethnic Albanians who had fled during the turmoil.

© S. SALGADO/ Democratic governments have replaced authoritarian regimes in Croatia and Yugoslavia. The extradition of Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague raised hope that other suspected war criminals may soon be apprehended. But less encouraging news is never far away. An estimated 1.3 million people are still waiting to go home and it may be more difficult to successfully help them than a comprehensive peace settlement in the former in the past. An estimated 230,000 ethnic Serbs, Roma Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) recently, six and other minorities who fled Kosovo in a ‘second exo- months of clashes between the two sides continued near dus’ as the Albanians returned, are increasingly frus- the capital, Skopje. trated with their life in limbo. Yugoslavia continues to The ceremony, so symbolically full of hope, was still host 390,000 refugees from earlier conflicts. so fraught with tension, the timing and venue of the Humanitarian and development dollars are in ceremony were kept secret until the last minute. increasingly short supply, though there is a continuing The situation in FYROM was the latest regional need for the reconstruction of homes and infrastructure. flashpoint, but even in countries where the guns have Corruption, ethnic hatred are widespread in some fallen silent the situation for refugees and other dis- areas. placed persons remains full of contradiction. One day in Bosnia, a 16-year-old girl can be ruthless- As many as 1.8 million people have gone back to ly gunned down, jeopardizing months or years of their countries and homes in the last few years. The patient ethnic bridge building. On another day and on a expulsion and return in 1999 of virtually the entire eth- more promising note in Kosovo, a project is launched to nic Albanian population of Kosovo was one of the rebuild 50 houses for Serb returnees. fastest reversals of fortune in refugee history. In the Balkans, the question can continue to be Encouragingly, the number of people in Bosnia- debated: Is the glass half full or half empty?

2 REFUGEES | COVER ALB•1999 © S. SALGADO/ THELONG

Balkan refugees on the road. STORY | ROADHOME... The Balkan region is a bewildering mosaic of hope and despair… While hundreds of thousands of civilians are rebuilding their lives, equally large numbers are staring into the abyss Turn to page 6 Ã | COVER STORY |

Ã THE nearby River Danube, the ‘newest’ victims murder of a 16-year-old Muslim girl in a LONG ROADHOME... of the 1999 crisis in Kosovo. As many as Serbian area of Bosnia can undermine 1,000 corpses have now been recovered years of patient bridge building between by Ray Wilkinson from the river and surrounding lakes, far communities. Conversely, the determina- away from the battle fronts, sparking out- tion of former Serb and Muslim enemies t is very difficult to look into rage, anger, denial and simple disbelief in a tiny village overlooking the once in- the mirror and confront the devil,” among Yugoslavs. famous Bosnian town of Gorazde to live a humanitarian aid worker said in “Just what you see depends on who is together again and share “even each indi- Belgrade recently. “This is a sober- looking into that mirror and how they in- vidual piece of chocolate we receive” re- ing and perplexing time for us.” terpret the image staring back,” the aid of- news hope that the experiment can even- She was trying to put into some kind ficial said shaking her head. tually work. ofI perspective the rapidly changing and Which is true not only for Yugoslavia. often contradictory developments sweep- The Balkan region is a bewildering mo- THE GOOD NEWS ing across Yugoslavia. saic of hope and despair, of progress and At least 1.8 million civilians through- The extradition to The Hague to face renewed crisis. out the Balkan region have gone back since the wars began to wind down. The returns ranged from the spontaneous mass repatriation of hundreds of thousands of ethnic

CS•BIH•2001 Albanians to Kosovo within a matter of weeks under the watchful eye of NATO tanks, to numerous individual decisions, of people determined to restart their lives even amidst neighbors they may still sus- UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ pect of wartime atrocities. Authoritarian regimes in Yugoslavia and Croatia were replaced by democratic governments. Among their first actions were pledges to resolve ongoing refugee crises. Between 110,000-120,000 civilians have already returned home in Croatia, and Za- greb insisted other refugees who fled during the 1990s would be fully reintegrated by the end of 2002. Belgrade relaxed its laws, making it eas- Around 1.8 million people have gone back since the 1990s wars have ended, ier for many of its 390,000 refugees to ap- including these Muslim minority returnees to Republika Srpska in Bosnia busily ply for citizenship and stay permanently. rebuilding their homes. Encouraged by those developments, UN- HCR High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers said for the first time in a decade there was war crimes trials of Slobodan Milosevic; The world’s greatest powers and mili- now a real possibility the refugee problem the establishment of democratic govern- tary machine, NATO, may have estab- could be successfully resolved. ment; the reopening to the outside world lished peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina and The international community signaled after years of isolation; the hopes for a bet- Kosovo, but it is an uneasy and tenuous its pleasure with Belgrade’s flexibility by ter future for hundreds of thousands of kind of stalemate. Long-term success—or approving a nearly $1.3 billion aid package THE BALKAN REGION IS A BEWILDERING MOSAIC OF HOPE AND DESPAIR, OF PROGRESS AND RENEWED CRISIS WHERE GRANDIOSE GLOBAL STRATEGIES MAY ULTIMATELY DEPEND ON THOUSANDS OF TINY INDIVIDUAL GESTURES.

refugees and displaced persons was the failure—ultimately could be governed by to help rescue an economy devastated by kind of good news which would have been small, personal actions multiplied many years of war and isolation. unthinkable only months earlier. times over as efforts to return and fully in- The extradition to The Hague to face But also on that day, people in the cap- tegrate millions of people uprooted by war crimes of Yugoslavia’s former leader, ital were confronted with the first grisly more than a decade of conflict continue. Slobodan Milosevic, opened the way for discovery of truckloads of bodies in the Incidents like the recent coldblooded the further arrests of possibly thousands Ã

6 REFUGEES | COVER STORY |

Ã of other wanted war criminals without a million homes. Five billion dollars in aid less than six years, while still only a start, which “a genuine breakthrough (toward poured into the country. was nevertheless extremely encouraging. reconciliation) is not possible,” according The capital, Sarajevo, has since recov- to Wolfgang Petritsch, the international ered some of the panache and joie de vivre THE BAD NEWS community’s High Representative in which helped it capture the 1984 Winter Pessimists viewed Balkan events Bosnia. Olympic Games in happier days. The through a different prism. In the central Balkans, virtually all of heavily sandbagged airport which became Though the wars of the 1990s subsided

SINCE THE SHOOTING STOPPED, THE ENTIRE REGION HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN A HUGE CONTEST OF ‘MUSICAL HOUSES.’

the 880,000 Kosovars who fled or were both a symbol of resistance and through into uneasy standoffs, another state, the forced out of that province in the spring which aid poured from the world’s longest former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia of 1999, returned within months in one of humanitarian airlift to sustain the city (FYROM), teetered to the edge of full scale the fastest and most dramatic reversals of through 3 1/2 years of war, has been rebuilt. insurrection throughout the first half of fortune in refugee history. Today, Kosovo’s The number of NATO troops in-country 2001 as government forces and local guer- roads are clogged with traffic, the skyline was sharply reduced to around 20,000. rillas skirmished around the capital, of Pristina, the capital, is decked in a ver- More than 730,000 Bosnians returned Skopje in yet another ethnically-inspired itable forest of television satellite dishes, home. Significantly, the number of people conflict. the landscape is alive with the hammer- going back to their houses in areas where The fighting was modest compared ing and banging of reconstruction and one they will now be minorities in that deeply with earlier clashes, but relations between of the largest American bases overseas divided land—probably the most difficult minority ethnic Albanians and Slavs de- with the unlikely name of Bondsteel sym- and intractable problem in Bosnia—accel- teriorated, the government lurched from crisis to crisis and around 150,000 civilians were uprooted. The majority went to neighboring Kosovo where civilians who

DP•MKD•2001 only two years before had sought safety in FYROM were now able to return the compliment of providing sanctuary in their own homes for the latest refugees UNHCR/H. CAUX/ (see page 11). Humanitarian agencies drew up con- tingency plans for a far worse scenario in which hundreds of thousands of people could be displaced by generalized warfare, a development which would jeopardize not only FYROM, but also the security and stability of surrounding states. Even before this latest crisis, there were still an estimated 1.3 million refugees and persons displaced within their own countries—so-called IDPs—scattered across the region. Refugee officials said it would be increasingly difficult to find solutions for these uprooted peoples compared with New troubles in the Balkans: Fighting flared in 2001 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and more than 150,000 civilians fled. those who had already gone home. Some problems inspired local solutions—Belgrade’s decision to make it eas- ier for refugees to obtain citizenship, for bolizes the world’s security commitment erated sharply in the last two years. instance. Others crisscrossed national to the region. Optimists suggested that the legacy of boundaries in every direction, particularly In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the 1995 Day- hatred between ethnic Serbs, Muslims and the housing crisis which has become one ton Peace Accord silenced the guns of war Croats ran so deeply following the war and of the worst legacies of the Balkan wars. which had killed tens of thousands of peo- the basic infrastructure such as homes, As communities fled during the up- ple, uprooted more than two million oth- electricity and water supplies were so bat- heavals, whole towns and villages were de- ers and destroyed or damaged nearly half tered, that the progress accomplished in liberately destroyed, creating widespread

8 REFUGEES | COVER STORY | YUG•1995 © S. SALGADO/

future housing shortages. Homes left plicated game of administrative chess standing were distributed among the new played between several groups of people of ‘majorities’ as an effective way of reinforc- different ethnicities in different countries. ing ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Since the shooting stopped, the entire DAUNTING TASK region has been involved in a huge contest Belgrade’s decision to promote ‘local in- of ‘musical houses’ rather than ‘musical tegration’ for longtime refugees as well as chairs’ to try to right those wrongs. There repatriation wherever possible, is ad- has been some reconstruction and repair— mirable. But at a time of diminishing hu- 125,000 dwellings in Bosnia have been re- manitarian assistance and a region-wide habilitated out of nearly 500,000 damaged battle for only a limited number of devel- or destroyed. International administrators CS•YUG•2001 opment dollars, the task of creating jobs and governments revised, rewrote or tight- for everyone in an economy where unem- ened property laws, actions which have ployment can reach 70 percent, of provid- helped increase the number of people re- ing schooling, housing and expensive long- turning home. Demarcation lines were also term care for many aging exiles, is daunt- redrawn in some areas (in parts of Sara- UNHCR/R. WILKINSON/ ing. jevo until recently, the line between Serb Virtually the entire ethnic Serb Ironically, in the short term the situa- and Croat-Muslim sections cut right population fled Croatia in 1995. Some, tion of most refugees, along with the civil- through several high-rise buildings, in- like Slobodan Pupovac and his wife ian population as a whole, has gotten worse cluding individual apartments). have now decided to settle in this new era of liberalization, with aid permanently in Yugoslavia. But hard-line local officials determined often being reduced, prices rising and work to enforce the status quo or individuals de- still unavailable. termined to stay or with nowhere else to Croatia, despite its promises, continues go, have been adept at delaying or halting and, at the other extreme, of untold num- to suffer a credibility problem among eth- the return of minorities to their own prop- bers of vacant homes deliberately hidden nic Serb refugees mulling the possibilities erties. The problem has been compounded or withheld. Each individual act of going of going home. After visiting both Bel- by people occupying two or more properties home can involve an exhausting and com- grade and Zagreb recently, High Com- Ã

REFUGEES 9 | COVER STORY |

ranking refugee official in Pristina judged that, “The era of shoot ‘em, bomb ‘em and burn ‘em has ended. And there’s light at the end of the tunnel which may not be an oncoming train.” But despite that assessment, security remains a problem. Eleven Kosovo Serbs were killed earlier in the year during an attack on a bus. Orthodox churches are ringed with barbed wire, armored personnel carriers and guarded by soldiers of the international force, KFOR, to prevent their destruction. Minority enclaves are similarly protected—whether a Serb village high in the hills or a group of ethnic Albanian apartment buildings in the Serb dominated section of Mitrovica town. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica vowed that “there is not a single door that I will not knock on” to solve the refugee and other problems, but he also warned a recent summit meeting: “The old Balkan story of violence and ethnic cleansing is not yet over.” In Bosnia, the key yardstick of minority returns is encouraging, having accelerated rapidly in the last 18 months to nearly 100,000 people. Udo Janz, UNHCR’s deputy chief of mission in Bosnia, Where it all began. believes the pressure to return is increas- UNHCR’s involvement: months,” ing. “In one sense the returns are unstop- one angry Serb told a pable. People are fed up,” he said. “They Ã missioner Ruud Lubbers said there was a visitor recently. “We have been here two just want to go home. They have switched widespread perception among the refugees years. Why are there good rules for the Al- off from the incessant propaganda and are that there was “not the political will” in banians and bad rules for the Serbs?” trying to re-establish themselves against Croatia to welcome them back. “This is Things have improved in Kosovo com- all the odds.” still part of the tragedy of the past,” he said. pared with the inflammatory aftermath of But those odds remain formidable. The And while Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian the return of the Albanians when mi- minorities represent around 13 percent of population recovers from its own 1999 ex- norities were openly threatened, beaten, total returns in a region which once odus, the 230,000 ethnic Serbs, Roma and thrown out and often killed. One high Continued on page 15 Ã other minorities who fled or were forced out when the Albanians returned, now live in collective centers, camps and private homes on the THE U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY FACES A DIFFICULT PROBLEM fringes of the province, increasingly frustrated by their life in limbo. IN BOTH PROMOTING RETURN FOR THOSE WHO WANT A few have ventured back, but , BUT AT THE SAME TIME HELPING there appears little hope that large TO GO HOME numbers will go home anytime soon. LOCAL INTEGRATION FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO STAY. “The Albanians went home in two

10 REFUGEES | COVER STORY |

“THE OLD BALKAN STORY OF VIOLENCE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING IS NOT YET OVER.” proudly boasted of its mixed population. short term at least many things have only In 1997 Pupovac was hit by another The country remains deeply divided be- gotten worse. truck. His spine was shattered and he has tween Republika Srpska and the Croat- In Serbia, industries crippled by the war been wheel chair bound ever since. With Bosniak Federation. Hard-line national- and a worldwide embargo remain gutted. three small children, an ill father-in-law ists still dream of their own entity or fed- Unemployment is as high as 70 percent in and an invalid husband to care for, Danka eration with Croatia. Civilians who do go some areas. Many of the estimated 390,000 does not have time for other work. They back to sensitive areas face harassment, refugees from Croatia and Bosnia-Herze- raise a few animals, but rely mainly on the including killings, beatings or more subtle govina have seen their assistance progres- goodwill of neighbors and aid agencies to pressures including excessive taxes, lack sively reduced. UNHCR slashed its own survive. of job opportunities or restricted educa- budget from an originally estimated $65 tion facilities for their children. And with million in 2000 to $27 million in 2002.

bitter irony, at the very time when mi- Slobodan Pupovac and his wife Danka, CS•BIH•2001 nority returns have increased, the fund- were among the 60 percent of refugees re- ing needed to sustain the movement has cently canvassed who opted to accept the become more difficult to find. government’s offer to integrate locally rather than return to Croatia which they HOPES AND FEARS fled in 1995. This issue presents the U.N. UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ A recent journey through the region refugee agency with a difficult balancing and visits with individual refugees high- act to follow—promoting return for those lighted all of these contradictions—the who want to go home, but at the same time hopes of return and the fear of permanent helping local integration for those who exile, the passions and continuing ani- wish to stay. mosities, the resilience of refugees and a Pupovac, a powerfully built man and wonderful generosity of spirit from peo- an ethnic Serb, salvaged a truck and trac- ple least able to materially afford kindness. tor as he abandoned his Croatian home The rump Yugoslav state and Croatia and trudged 700 kilometers in 12 days, me- are both at a crossroads. Each has installed andering across Serbia until his family fi- democratic governments, restored their nally settled near Belgrade. He bought a ties with the international community and plot of land and began to build a house, promised to quickly tackle the refugee cri- selling off his truck, part by part, to finance sis. Expectations were raised, but in the the future. Housing is one of the biggest problems for uprooted peoples. The

CS•YUG•2001 dividing line between Serb and Croat- Muslim sides of Sarajevo literally ran through this apartment block until it was recently readjusted.

UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ The family elected to stay in Serbia and he recently received his citizenship. Would he ever go back to Croatia? “No,” he replied instantly. “Everything there was destroyed. My houses were burned down. What is there to go back for?” But later in the conversation he admits, “Perhaps if everyone else went back, we would think about it.” This ambivalence surfaced repeatedly in talks across the region: ‘No’, but then ‘maybe’ if things improved in Croatia. There was ambivalence, denial and hostility among Serb refugees about the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic and the There are 600 collective centers like this one for uprooted people in Yugoslavia. Kosovo atrocities which continue to sur- Continued on page 18 Ã

REFUGEES 15 TWO SUCCESS STORIES ¬ Belgrade recently welcomed back ethnic Albanian citizens like Hussein Abdijeviq in a major policy switch. √Trajko and Divna Arsiare are among very few ethnic Serbs CS•YUG•2001 who have thus far gone back to Kosovo. √ UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

Ã face. “We all expected something to hap- He should not have been extradited.” His house. “We are still waiting for a decision,” pen after Milosevic left,” said Pupovac. neighbors nodded in agreement. he said recently. “Well, something has happened. Electric- Dusan Karapandze, his wife and three Even more galling, the temporary oc- ity prices shot up and the children’s al- children did return to Croatia last year, cupant was away, reputedly working in lowances have been slashed.” Another only to find their home in the village of Germany, and when Dusan was found in refugee in southern Serbia said angrily: Majske Poljane occupied by a Bosnian the house he was charged with illegal en- “Was Milosevic the only one to commit Croat settler. The Karapandzes moved into try into his own property. crimes? What about the Albanians, the a small shed on the property and submit- Similar absurdities abound. One Serb Croats, the Muslims? They were all guilty. ted an application for repossession of their returnee in northern Croatia was denied

Seeking the truth… As civilians try to return ihomir Stanimorovic was passionate and adamant: and electricity and compared with conditions endured by other T “The international community escorted the Albanians uprooted peoples in the region and other parts of the world, things back to their homes in Kosovo in two months. We have are not too bad. been here for two years.” But there is a festering resentment, growing frustration and It seemed, according to this Serb, almost like a mission im- a continued sense of ‘victimhood’ at the Motel Bujanovac. While possible. “People can go to the moon easily these the guns have become silent and political change days,” he added, “but in the Balkans we can’t even has swept much of the area, displaced Serbs are go the few miles back to our homes.” While the guns apparently being left behind. Stanimorovic, his wife and two children, “There should not be one rule for the Alba- along with an estimated 230,000 Serbs, Roma have become nians and Bosniaks and another rule for the and others left Kosovo—he said he was deliber- Serbs,” said Stanimorovic, a natural spokesman ately expelled by NATO forces—as allied troops silent, displaced for the motel people. A young girl in the audi- and ethnic Albanians flooded back into the Serbs fear they ence which has gathered around a visitor wears province in a dramatic swing in the fortunes for a T-shirt: “Nobody sings like Serbians do and the area’s civilians at the end of 1999. are being left we party better too.” For one week, ‘terrorists’ blindfolded him and behind. But there is no party mood here. “It is all beat him up, he said, before he was released and NATO’s fault,” he insisted in the kind of state- eventually made his way to a motel on the edge ment repeated by displaced Serbs across the re- of the southern Serbian town of Bujanovac which was converted gion. “If they didn’t come we would be continuing to live together into a collective center for around 130 people. They have been peacefully. We did not do anything wrong. It is always the ‘little there ever since. man’ who suffers.” A few tractors and cars which they managed to salvage are parked nearby. Each family was allocated a room or a very tiny ELUSIVE TRUTH miniature alpine cabin in the grounds. There is running water Stanimorovic’s village of Novo Selo is less than one hour’s

18 REFUGEES CS•YUG•2001 UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

possession of his home because another widely, from overcrowded temporary dor- “Three members of my family have temporary occupant used it for his dog. mitories with almost no amenities, to sim- died here, including my husband,” one el- ple but clean family accommodation. derly woman said, adding with a touch of COLLECTIVE CENTERS Moods also vary in these centers, from ap- awe “but my grandchildren were also born There are 600 collective centers in Yu- athy to anger. here.” goslavia—converted factories, hotels, sports Juplja Stena (Hollow Rock) near Bel- “When we left Mostar (in Bosnia) in centers, office blocks—sheltering 40,000 grade is a former children’s summer resort 1992 I had a loaf of warm bread in my persons, often the very old and infirm, set among wooded hills. Some Bosnians hand,” she said. “Nothing more. When we with nowhere else to go. Conditions vary have been there for a decade. first got here we thought, ‘we will go home Ã home, the truth of what actually happened in the war remains elusive…

drive from the motel. It had been a mixed village before the con- CS•YUG•2001 flict, but he claimed that all the Serb houses had been burned down as they left by ethnic Albanians “and all of our wells were poisoned in the presence of American troops.” After talking to the exiled Serbs, a visitor toured Novo Selo. Serb homes remain wrecked, rusting television sets, cookers and UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ a burned sofa scattered among the ruins. A flock of geese wad- dled slowly by. Soldiers from KFOR have established a nearby firing range and the boom of cannon echo down the pretty valley and hill- sides. Truth, however, remains elusive and ever changing. “He is welcome back,” shrugged one Albanian subsistence farmer who lives only a few hundred yards from the Serb’s home. Kosovar ethnic Serb families wait to go home in a collective “Why not?” center. But their old village has been destroyed. It is the sort of easy answer that visitors receive all the time, making it difficult to gauge the true feelings of civilians and the as they left, to be able to later blame the Albanians. overall mood of any region in the Balkans. A half an hour later, Stanimorovic would not be particularly As the conversation continues, the emphasis changes. “The welcome to return home: “If he does come, it will then be up to the Serbs burned down our mosque before they left,” the ethnic Al- police.” But the Albanian family added, “If he goes to jail, his wife banian farmer said. “This guy helped them. He was a leader. His could still live here peacefully.” son also fought for the Serbs here and in Bosnia.” Patching up relations between neighbors in villages like Novo The farmer and members of his family warm to the theme. Selo remains key to any long lasting stability, but emotions re- The Serbs, they said, had actually burned down their own homes main raw and volatile in the Balkans. B

REFUGEES 19 Ã soon.’ Now there is no hope, especially for us old people. There is not one day that I do not cry,” she said, beginning to sob. “There is no joy for me, no future.” The longer people stay in such centers, where they do receive minimum assistance, not only apathy but also dependency takes a firm grip. Many longtime refugees simply no longer have the willpower to make decisions. Some refugees, for instance, hesitate about tak- ing citizenship because it would mean leaving a collective center and fending for themselves. The residents at the Pension Belgrade and other collective centers in southern Serbia were displaced persons from Kosovo. They have been exiles for far less time than the Bosnian refugees and are full of bewilderment and anger. “Hundreds of officials and journalists have come here. They have taken our stories, photographed our faces, but nothing happens,” one woman at the Pension Bel- grade said before turning on her heel and leaving. At a converted sports center in the town of Vranje which houses around 120 people, a visitor was met with hostility. “What has happened to the 1,300 Serbs who were kidnapped in Kosovo?” one person asks. “No one has found their bodies.” “Why should we participate in the elections?” another wonders about forth- coming balloting in Kosovo in November. “They are not for us. They are for the Al- banians.” A little later the visitor is turned brusquely away at the door.

A SUCCESS STORY When Albanian refugees began flood- ing back into Kosovo in late 1999, ethnic Serbs, fearing revenge, headed out of the province. Thousands of other ethnic Al- banians living in Serbia proper, who had not been directly involved in that crisis, nevertheless became caught in the cross- fire of refugee flows and mounting local unrest and they crossed into Kosovo. It was a local mini drama played out against the backdrop of the main event, part of the mad mosaic of movement at the time. Now, they have begun to head home to Serbia—the first time the Belgrade government, normally vilified for its ethnic policies, openly welcomed the return of a large minority. “Conflict was avoided here when it would have been so easy to slide into total chaos resulting in tens of thousands more people leaving home,” said

20 REFUGEES | COVER STORY |

UNHCR field officer Bill Tall as he doubtedly ‘in’, Serbs and other minorities watched the first 99 returnees clamber undoubtedly ‘out’. A United Nations civil S. SALGADO from two buses and head for their isolated administration, UNMIK, backed by KFOR farmhouses in the surrounding hills. It was troops, guides the shaky province towards also, of course, a calculated political ges- an uncertain future. “In Kosovo we don’t ture. By encouraging its own minorities to have a minority problem,” a senior hu- return, Belgrade was in a better position manitarian official said. “We have a ma-

THE LONGER PEOPLE STAY IN COLLECTIVE CENTERS, NOT ONLY APATHY BUT ALSO DEPENDENCY TAKES A FIRM GRIP.

to demand the return of ethnic Serbs to jority problem,” referring to the Albanian Kosovo. attitude towards the Serbs. But even with government encourage- Within that sweeping and simplistic ment and police protection, these re- statement are thousands of individual sto- turnees face a difficult future. Their homes ries—of Serbs who stayed amidst a sea of have been gutted. “When I left this place, hostility; of the few who have since re- the last thing I did was let the cattle loose,” turned; of groups of Albanians in the op- said Hussein Abdijeviq as he looked at the posite predicament, trying to survive in shell of his home and across the beautiful Serb majority enclaves and of the sudden valley down which his animals had disap- arrival of more than 80,000 refugees from peared. Doors and windows were ripped FYROM (see page 11). away. Exercise books and mattresses lit- Slivovo, an area of eight villages, has tered the floors. One wall was daubed with the picture-postcard beauty of Switzerland. both Serb and Albanian military slogans. When four brothers were hanged from a A child’s broken bicycle lay in the court- tree in 1999 by Albanian vigilantes, most yard. Serb residents fled. Miro Pavic decided to Hussein was given a few emergency stay among his vegetables, wheat, corn, items, a stove, blankets and a few rations fruit trees and cattle. on his way home and he prepared to camp Swedish troops have built a command out. “I must clean this up before my wife post down the hill from Pavic’s farm and arrives,” he grinned through broken teeth. man watch towers atop nearby hills. UN- “I’m very happy and sad at the same time. HCR has organized a local bus to transport What can I say? I’m home.” Similar scenes the few Serbs in the area through Alba- were repeated in neighboring valleys. (But nian territory to the ‘outside world.’ even success stories can be fragile. Shortly It is a precarious situation, but Slivovo after this visit, unknown gunmen shot is considered one of around a dozen areas dead two local policemen and wounded in Kosovo safe enough to encourage mi- two others, threatening to undermine the nority return. Miro Pavic keeps a register returns and stability of the whole region.) of all the Serb families who fled and is the main cheerleader for their return. “Fifteen MAJORITY PROBLEM families have come home,” he said, but BIH•1995 In Kosovo, ethnic Albanians who were though this trickle back is encouraging, themselves refugees two years ago, are un- Continued on page 24 Ã © S SALGADO/ MUSLIM SURVIVORS OF SREBRENICA It was the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II. After Serb forces overran the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in 1995, they systematically killed more than 7,000 Bosnian men and boys, but generally sparing the females. In early July 2001, thousands of Muslims under U.S. armed guard returned to weep and unveil the foundation stone of a memorial for the victims. Several weeks later, Serb General Radislav Krstic was sentenced to 46 years in prison for genocide for his part in the massacre. Though the guns have been silent for many years now, the town remains overwhelmingly Serb, a continuing legacy of the war. Ã

REFUGEES 21 | COVER STORY | CS•YUG•2001 UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

Minorities still need protection in Kosovo, whether Albanian, Serb or Roma. British troops and a UNHCR field officer check with a Serb farmer about security conditions.

Ã refugee officials acknowledge it is unlikely priest’s wife in the orthodox cathedral in when they leave the compound. Slobo- that the great majority of the 230,000 Serbs Mitrovica. Kosovo’s second largest town is danka Nojic never leaves. “I am too afraid,” and other minorities who left will return the effective frontline in the struggle be- she said. “And if we tried to leave alone, we anytime soon. tween the province’s Albanians who dom- would be kidnapped or killed. To be sure, The British government has provided inate the southern suburbs, and ethnic we would never return to this house.” 15 greenhouses both to encourage further Serbs who control northern areas. Passions Halit and Zadi Maxhuni have led a sim- return and sustain the Serb community, and hatreds are raw and often on public ilar life in reverse. Ethnic Albanians, they but this guarded enclave has become “a display in Mitrovica and even when it is live in the Serb-dominated north. He is al- gilded cage,” Pavic said. “We are still pris- quiet, one aid official worries “I’m so afraid most blind. During the worst of the trou- oners among our vegetables. Security has something will happen. This is too quiet. bles they spent an entire year in their dark- improved in the last year, but the presence It’s eerie.” ened apartment, the windows covered with of Swedish troops was still absolutely es- The cathedral is in the south of the city, blankets, one small radio as their only con- sential,” he said. “I couldn’t think of life among the Albanians. Greek troops ringed tact with the outside world, and two without them.” it with barbed wire, sandbags and armored friendly Serb women neighbors buying personnel carriers. The church is officially them occasional groceries. FLASHPOINT open, but only a dozen people attend ser- When Halit Maxhuni finally ventured Neither could Slobodanka Nojic, a vices. Priests are accompanied by troops out recently for a haircut, Serbs in the DURING THE WORST OF THE TROUBLES THEY SPENT AN ENTIRE YEAR IN THEIR DARKENED APARTMENT, THE WINDOWS COVERED WITH BLANKETS, ONE SMALL RADIO THEIR ONLY CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

24 REFUGEES | COVER STORY |

neighborhood silently been broken. Sixty homes have been re- flowers. The region around Visegrad was lined their balconies to built. Red tiled roofs glint in the sunshine a particularly savage battle zone before watch. When his wife and window boxes are ablaze with flowers Serb forces drove out the Muslims early left the apartment for though life is still tough. Muslim villagers in the war. the first time she was are mainly elderly, there are still few farm Now it is the scene of an experimental overwhelmed: “At first animals and most people are in similar cir- return. High up on a mountain slope, a tiny I had a feeling that ev- cumstances to Mustafa and Sevda Dedovic 1950s red Renault car chugs along an over- erything was spinning who survive on the equivalent of $50 per grown path. Only a few yards away, totally out of control. And month pension. hidden by foliage, lies the destroyed vil- then I saw the sky and As this couple chatted about their lage of Dubocica. Cato Feridjz picks his sun. It was beautiful.” wartime experiences and their joy in fi- way down the slope, past crumbling walls nally returning home, his brother, wife and a few weathered picket fences. TUROVI REVISITED and two sons who had lived in the same He has difficulty in finding his old In 1998, this visitor village but eventually fled to Sweden, ar- house, but there, finally, is a fake silver tray wrote about Turovi rived for a surprise visit. “Today life is among the suddenly revealed ruins. “My village in Bosnia sweet,” Mustafa said even though the lot- mother was shot here. Killed,” he said. “She (Refugees n° 114): “For tery of war had been much sweeter to his was 80. They burned the house.” nearly two years, UN- brother. He points to a fruit tree. “Slivovitz,” a HCR has been in- Zuko Rasim, another Muslim, moved local plum brandy, he says proudly. He volved in tortuous ne- back to neighboring Trnovo town which picks a wild flower and crushes it into ash gotiations with the became Serb-dominated during the war. before proclaiming, “Tea.” The only func- Serb mayor to promote He has not been so lucky. When he re- tioning thing on the mountainside is a pipe minority returns to opened a bakery there were many Serb carrying fresh water into a trough. Cato Turovi. In exchange customers initially, but hard-line munici- strips off and plunges into the icy pool. “My for building 20 Mus- pality officials intervened, scaring cus- water,” he says proudly. lim houses, UNHCR tomers away and charging him excessive He and the other men who have walked offered to rehabilitate local taxes. Even children from across the to this village have been given a few blan- 20 Serb houses, a road began avoiding the shop with the kets and some food, but they are deter- school and a sawmill. sweet smells. “I guess they are just trying mined to stay amid the ruins and rebuild. But the goal posts kept to run me out of town,” Zuko said. This is the very cutting edge, the front- being moved, first over line of return in the Balkans. Conditions which houses should THE CUTTING EDGE don’t get any tougher. If these villagers can be rebuilt first, then over numbers in- The views across the Drina Valley are survive the rigors of the mountain with al- volved. Turovi is a deserted shell today” among the most spectacular in Europe. It most nothing, overcome the hostility of under several feet of snow and garbage. is an area slashed by deep gorges, forests, nearby Serbs and successfully rebuild their It is one sign of progress in Bosnia that and on the higher alpine slopes by fields homes and lives then perhaps, just perhaps, on a return visit, that long impasse had of yellow, violet, white and pink wild- there is hope for the entire region. B CS•BIH•2001 UNHCR/R. WILKINSON/

Muslims arrive back at the site of their mountain homes high above the Drina Valley.

REFUGEES 25 | COVER STORY |

A brief history of the Balkans

1878 of the conflict agencies are helping day UNHCR and other agencies the solution of the refugee After years of conflict, the world’s as many as 3.5 million people return. Refugees flood back and in problem in the region and return of Great Powers redraw the map of throughout the former Yugoslavia one of the fastest returns in displaced persons to Kosovo will the Balkans at the Congress of while an estimated 700,000 history, 600,000 people go home be one of the country’s top Berlin. Three new countries, Serbia, Bosnians flee. within three weeks. In a reverse priorities. Montenegro and Romania are July 11, 1995 exodus, an estimated 230,000 established, but the wishes of local © B. GYSEMBERGH/CS•BIH•1992 Srebrenica, one of several regions populations are largely ignored. in Bosnia designated by the U.N. as 1912-13 ‘safe areas’ falls to Serb forces. Around 7,000 men and boys are Two Balkan wars are fought to try slaughtered in the worst single to end several centuries of atrocity in Europe since World War Ottoman rule. All the regional II. Other safe areas such as Gorazde powers, Romanians, Serbs, survive. Bulgarians, Greeks and Albanians are involved. August 12, 1995 June 28, 1914 Croatia launches Operation Storm and retakes the Krajina area from A Serb assassin kills Archduke Franz rebel Serbs, 170,000 of whom flee. Ferdinand, heir to the Austro- Many remain refugees. Hungarian throne, in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, precipitating November 21, 1995 World War I. The Dayton Peace Accord is signed December 1, 1918 to end hostilities in Bosnia and pave the way for the return of Yugoslavia, the ‘Kingdom of Serbs, refugees and displaced persons to Croats and Slovenes’ is created their homes. Hundreds of from territories formerly occupied thousands of persons have still not by the old Turkish and Austrian gone back. The NATO-led empires. Implementation Force deploys to October 24, 1944 the region. As generalized war broke out in the 1990s, ethnic Serbs in Josip Broz Tito’s partisans liberate March 1998 Bosnia-Herzegovina established prisoner of war camps such Belgrade from the Nazis and as this one near Banja Luka. Fighting erupts in Serbia’s southern establish a communist regime in Kosovo province between Yugoslavia. February 2001 the majority ethnic Albanians and Serbs and minority Roma, fearing June 25, 1991 Serbs. Within months 350,000 revenge attacks, seek safety in Conflict breaks out in the former Serbia and Montenegro. A U.N. Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Croatia and Slovenia proclaim people have been displaced or fled abroad. Civil Administration is put into (FYROM). As international media- independence from the Socialist place and the task of rebuilding the tors and the government struggle to Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. March 24, 1999 province begins. hold the country together, more Serb forces overrun 30 percent of than 150,000 people flee, princi- Croatian territory. After the failure of peace talks in Rambouillet, France, and December 11, 1999 pally to neighboring Kosovo. October 8, 1991 repeated warnings, NATO launches Political change begins to sweep July 2001 a 78-day airwar. Within three days, the region. Croatian strongman Yugoslavia asks for UNHCR’s assis- Despite massive aid during the last ethnic Albanians begin to flee Franjo Tudjman dies in Zagreb, tance. The U.N. Secretary-General few years, resumption of regional or are forced out of the region by paving the way for democratic then designates the organization as and international diplomatic Serb forces. Eventually nearly government in that country. the lead humanitarian agency in relations, the establishment of 444,600 civilians fled to Albania, the crisis. democratic governments, the 244,500 to Macedonia and 69,900 October 6, 2000 Balkans remain in turmoil. Many war March 3, 1992 to Montenegro. More than 90,000 Slobodan Milosevic concedes criminals remain free, more than one people are subsequently airlifted defeat in presidential elections Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims million civilians have still not to 29 countries for temporary after protestors set the Yugoslav independence. Serb forces seize 70 returned to their homes and the safety to ease regional political parliamentary building on fire. percent of the country’s territory region remained braced for another pressures. He is placed under house arrest and lay siege to Sarajevo. possible major conflagration. and on June 28, 2001, he is handed July 3, 1992 June 12, 1999 over to the International Tribunal August 13, 2001 1/2 NATO and Russian forces enter in The Hague to face war crimes. UNHCR begins a 3 year airlift Under the watchful eye of western Kosovo after Yugoslavia accepts a Economic sanctions are ended, into Sarajevo which will become powers and NATO, FYROM’s two peace plan requiring withdrawal of diplomatic relations restored. the longest-running humanitarian sides sign a peace agreement. airbridge in history. At the height all forces from Kosovo. The next A new government in Belgrade says B

REFUGEES 7 | COVER STORY | Returning the favor A Kosovo family gets an unusual chance to repay a kindness CS•YUG•2001 UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

Members of the Macedonian and Kosovar families together.

hen Serb forces invaded the UNHCR acknowledge that the willing- tant Zimani had taken two years earlier. W village of Zhegra on March 29, ness of private families to help was key in Others left legally. 1999, they immediately gunned sheltering so many people in such a short The two families had kept in sporadic down a neighbor of Mitant Zimani. Four- span of time. contact by telephone but had never again teen other civilians were killed before The Kosovars stayed with their hosts visited. However, the Macedonian family she, her husband and her children could for three months, but slowly made their way escape to the nearby hills and begin a as the fortunes of war to Zhegra village. 30-hour trek from Kosovo to neighboring swung wildly, they re- Rarely does war “We didn’t know former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia turned to their village they were coming un- (FYROM) and safety. in the wake of NATO allow kindness to be til there was a knock Across the border, the family of Rexhep troops and began re- returned in such on the door and there Murseli and her nine children were waiting. building their home they were,” Mitant Zi- “We had to help. We are ethnic Albanians and their lives. spectacular and mani said. “Of course and these people needed us,” she said re- they were welcome.” cently. They took the entire family of Mi- REPAYING KINDNESS symmetrical fashion. Life is not easy. A tant Zimani under their wing. “We cooked War often allows total of 25 grown ups together and slept on the floor with each people to show great and children crowd to- other,” she added. “But it was no problem. kindness to others in distress, but rarely gether in four small rooms. Again, like There really wasn’t anything else to do.” does it allow that kindness to be returned earlier times there is communal cooking, Nearly one million people fled or were in such spectacular and symmetrical fash- eating and sleeping. The visiting children evicted from Kosovo in 1999 and the bulk ion as in the case of these Macedonian and have already enrolled in local school, but of them stayed with so-called ‘host fami- Kosovar families. the family will return once things calm lies’ in neighboring Albania and FYROM When trouble flared recently in FY- down across the frontier. who threw open their homes to the ROM, it was now time for the Murseli fam- They agree they will now visit each refugees in return for small grants of in- ily to abandon their home and flee to the other regularly, hopefully for a vacation ternational assistance. relative safety of Kosovo. Some members and not as the result of another round of Humanitarian organizations such as took the same mountainous route that Mi- fighting. B

REFUGEES 11 Welcome In 1994, Gorazde

UNHCR/M

12 REFUGEES | COVER STORY | back to the “living hell” became known as a “city where only the dead are lucky.” Today is different CS•YUG•2001 UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

Today, civilians swim in the Drina River in downtown Gorazde.

n a hot summer’s day hundreds of people laze on a clave, Srebrenica to the north, Gorazde was never overrun and Ospit of pebble and sand in the middle of the Drina its Muslim, or Bosniak, majority never left. River, the forested hills which once rained death and destruction on the town towering above. A rickety footbridge PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS erected underneath the main road bridge across the river to The town represents a mirror of both the progress and prob- allow pedestrians to shelter from snipers still swings lazily lems encountered across Bosnia since the Dayton Peace Accord but now empty in the breeze. Sidewalk cafés have sprouted was signed nearly six years ago. around the downtown building where desperate cables from The guns are silent and people again enjoy the small pleasures trapped humanitarian workers daily recorded the de- of life such as swimming in the river or sipping coffee in a café. struction of this town. Buildings have been patched up and there are even two traffic

CS•BIH•1996 Gorazde almost died from the onslaught of Serbian lights working. Some of the land which yielded rich harvests of M. VACCA/ forces during the war in Bosnia. The U.N. had declared the plums, apples and pears is being cultivated for the first time in region a protected enclave, but the besieging forces contemptu- five or six years. ously ignored the international community and came within a There are few security incidents and families have been steadily hair of overrunning it before peace finally prevailed. trickling back to the region. Today, the town, set among stunning gorges, rolling hills and But there are major problems, too, in Gorazde. Factories which forests, is still picking up the pieces. Unlike another infamous en- made spare parts, ammunition and chemicals before the war are

REFUGEES 13 | COVER STORY |

CS•BIH•2001 UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ UNHCR/R. learning to live together again.

Ethnic Albanian and Serb families

shuttered. Unemployment is as high as 80 percent and virtually their destroyed homes and the term ‘tent settlement’ has the only work available is with international organizations. On become synonymous with progress. the outskirts of town, private homes lie gutted and abandoned. Before the war this was a mixed village and though the entire Prewar Gorazde had been multiethnic, but the town today is population fled during the fighting, eight Serb families, seven principally Moslem. Serb leaders initially attempted to keep the Bosniak families and two Albanian families have returned. status quo of divided communities and to block ethnic Serbs re- Muhamed Bukva’s fa- turning to downtown Bosniak areas. ther was gunned down by automatic weapons fire THE LAST BUS “The more they 100 yards away from his But that has begun to change as all sides have become increas- wait the more they rebuilt house but he insists: ingly impatient for further progress and have realized that un- “This was not the doing of der toughened property laws there may not be much more time lose. More and my neighbors and we can to either reclaim, sell or barter prewar properties. succeed in rebuilding both “The more they wait the more they lose,” one UNHCR offi- more people have our friendship and our vil- cial said of the increased impetus to return. “More and more peo- decided to catch lage.” ple have decided to catch the last bus.” He added, “Even if we The village of Bukve Miljanovici perches high in the hills. the last bus.” receive one piece of choco- Gorazde snuggles far below in a natural bowl. The old frontlines late, we share it.” Serb are only a few yards away and from here it was child’s play to ac- neighbors nodded in agree- curately lob shells into the town. ment. Against the backdrop of ongoing suffering throughout the “Welcome to the first multiethnic tent settlement in Bosnia,” Balkans, Bukve Miljanovici could easily be overlooked, but such Muhamed Bukva expansively welcomes a recent visitor to neighbor-to-neighbor attempts to overcome the legacy of a bit- the village. As reconstruction continues across the country, ter war carry perhaps the only realistic hope for genuine recon- many returnees are living in UNHCR-supplied tents next to ciliation. B

14 REFUGEES | COVER STORY | The wheel that never squeaks… Reintegrating minorities is slow work and has met with only limited success so far

hen NATO troops came into Kosovo, I thought upheavals in the 1990s, in Bosnia, in Croatia and in W the nightmare was over,” Ragip Kovaqi said with a slow Kosovo. shake of his head. “But things move only very slowly The latest efforts at reintegration have been very for us in Kosovo. I am rebuilding my home, but I can still only slow and have met with limited results thus far. eat once a day if my children are to get enough food.” The Roma community in the Kosovo town of Ragip is a member of the minority Ashkalijas sect which is Mitrovica was one of the most prosperous in the closely related to the Roma and Egyptian groups. During the 1999 region. Six thousand people lived in modern two Kosovo conflict, his clan was forced to flee into the mountains and three-storey homes before they were literally and their homes in the village of Bat- burned out and forced to lava were razed. flee in June 1999 to escape Last year, they were encouraged to vengeful ethnic Albanians return and begin rebuilding their CS•YUG•2001 who accused them of sid- houses as part of the international ef- ing with the Serbian authorities. fort to stitch Kosovo back together Roma Makalla remains a smoulder- again. Grainna O’Hara, a protection of- ing, empty ruin even today. Structures

ficer for UNHCR, cautiously terms the UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ were firebombed. Others were disman- project “a return in progress” a remark tled brick by brick, by marauders who which could apply to much of the carted the materials away for their own Balkans. homes and at the same time denied the Not all of the families have gone owners a chance to rebuild their proper- home. Rebuilding has been slow and ties. there are no guarantees it will be fin- When the idea was recently mooted ished. Ragip was turned down for the for a Roma return to Mitrovica, it was police force, apparently because of gos- decided that security considerations were sip from hostile neighbors. still too high risk for such an operation. And proof of the deep divisions still Other Roma homes escaped destruc- splitting the entire region lie as a dark tion in towns like Gnjilane in Kosovo but reminder only a few feet away from the they remain occupied by Serbs or Alba- building site. Ragip’s brother had also nians who were themselves thrown out fled to the mountains during the con- of their own properties. flict, but when he attempted to return to In this seemingly never ending game the village he was executed by Serb po- of musical chairs, some Gnjilane Roma lice on the spot. His grave is now cov- ended up at the Salvatore camp in south- ered with freshly cut flowers. ern Serbia. The ‘lucky’ 145 Roma live in “I am not at all certain about the fu- a series of rust-colored converted con- ture,” says Ragip. tainers. One family of 10 occupies one Minority communities ‘room’ measuring 18 feet by 18 feet and REGULAR VICTIMS share one bed and space on the floor cov- These minority communities are have been victimized for ered by pieces of carpet. A woven part of the fabric of the Balkans. But centuries, as they were tapestry of Elvis Presley adorns one wall they have also been victimized for cen- of the container “a hero when I was turies, as they were again during the again in the 1990s. younger” according to the mother.

22 REFUGEES CS•YUG•2001 UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ A once thriving Roma community in Mitrovica lies in ruins. Thousands of Roma live in collective centers and camps, waiting for the day to go home.

The ‘unlucky’ ones survive in flimsy construc- outskirts of the city. tions of plastic sheeting and cardboard, often with- These are “If they are dark skinned then they are out doors and which flood during the rains. people without afraid to be in the city,” one aid worker said. There is no work and one piece of firewood costs But moves are underway to bring the Roma the equivalent of two dollars. voices and with back. Houses are being rehabilitated, a play- Visitors are blitzed with complaints. “We have no no leaders, the ground, sewage project and proposed road for work, no food, no future. My daughter is dying. I will the entire community, not just the Roma, are try to look after her, but if not I will dump her in so-called planned. your office,” one young man says. “There is peace, Some Albanian leaders have begun to reach but still no hope,” another adds. ‘wheel that out to the minority communities and their own One unusual incident intrudes on this depress- never squeaks’ leaders have begun to appear on local televi- ing scene. In one corner of the compound, a well- sion for interviews. dressed local collecting fees is surrounded by Roma. and which is But rehabilitation is a painstaking opera- When queried he said he was from the local mobile tion. The return of one family may take at least phone company and virtually everyone in the gath- never heard. a year of preparatory work, which can be blown ering agreed they had phones. The elders use them away in a matter of seconds. to keep in touch with events in Kosovo, the young- It had taken that long to prepare the ground sters simply to call each other across the camp which has been for Roma families to agree to return to the Drenica Valley last home for so long. year. Two days after three men and one teenager returned, their These are people without voices and with no leaders to look to, bodies were discovered next to their tents sending a chill through the so-called ‘wheel that never squeaks’ and which is never heard, all minority groups throughout the Balkans. according to one Roma official. “This was a model return project, but it only needed an instant to destroy it,” said Grainna O’Hara. “We’re conscious of these risks, SLOW AND HESITANT but people want to go home. We can’t simply freeze everything, Pristina was full of Roma in its prewar days, but the majority even after incidents like that, can we?” fled or were forced to leave to Serbia or temporary sites such as the That remains one of the most difficult dilemmas in today’s Plemetina camp, a former barracks for electricity workers, on the Balkans. B

REFUGEES 23 THE BALKANS| COVER STORY 2001|

GERMANY

BOSNIA

As war spread through- 1 out the Balkans in the 1990s, millions of civilians were uprooted. Many sought shelter in their own countries. Others fled to neighboring states or became refugees, CS•BIH•1994 principally in Europe. The Bosnian capital of Sarajevo survived, but only with the SWITZERLAND longest humanitarian airlift in history. UNHCR/A. HOLLMANN/ SLOVENIA

LJUBLJANA ITALY ZAGREB CROATIA BOSNIA BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA The pace of 9 minority returns in 9 Bosnia has accelerated in 1 the last two years. These ethnic Serbian farmers have moved back to a SARAJEVO CS•BIH•2001 majority Bosniak region and like many returnees are living in UNHCR- supplied tents until their MONTE homes can be rebuilt. UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

TIRAN ROME

HOUSING

The lack of 8 housing because PROTECTION of widespread destruction during the war Minorities of CS•YUG•2001 and efforts to regain 7 whatever possession of old ethnicity, still homes is one of the need protection in biggest problems to Kosovo. Albanians overcome. living in the Serb- UNHCR/R. WILKINSON/ dominated northern section of Mitrovica are guarded by French troops and CS•YUG•2001 reach the Albanian southern section of the city via a closely guarded footbridge ADC/WORLDMAP across a river. UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

16 REFUGEES | COVER STORY |

FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA UKRAINE The latest fighting UKRAINE 2 occurred in the for- YUGOSLAVIA mer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) be- An

DP•MKD•2001 tween government forces 3 estimated and ethnic Albanian guerril- 1.3 million las. Around 150,000 civilians people remain CS•YUG•2001 fled their homes. displaced from UNHCR/H. CAUX/ their own homes within the region. The largest HUNGARY UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ concentrations are 390,000 refugees and 230,000 displaced Kosovars in Yugoslavia, including these elderly Croat women, and nearly 560,000 people in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

SERBIA

Many refugees 4 from Croatia said they would like to ROMANIA ROMANIA settle permanently in 4 BELGRADE Serbia and they are gradually being FEDERAL REPUBLIC permanently housed or OF YUGOSLAVIA CS•YUG•2001 building their own homes with international assistance like this refugee 8 3 5 living just outside Belgrade. 6 PRISTINAPRISTiNA UNHCR/R. WILKINSON/ E NEGRO 7 SOFIA KOSOVO BULGARIA KOSOVO SKOPJE A few ethnic ANA 5 Serbs have 2 returned to selected FYR OF MACEDONIA safe areas in Kosovo, including these farmers CS•YUG•2001 in the village of Slivovo. ALBANIA But conditions are still not safe enough for the great majority to go back. UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/

GREECE

ROMA TURKEY The Roma and other 6 minority communities were particularly traumatized during the various conflicts. Thousands CS•YUG•2001 continue to wait for a chance to return home, but a few like these Ashkalijas in Kosovo have gone back and have begun to rebuild their communities. UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ 17 | ERITREA |

CS•ERI•2001 AT LAST... ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST AND UNHCR/S. BONESS/ OLDEST REFUGEE COMMUNITIES BEGINS TO GO HOME

26 REFUGEES | ERITREA |

by Newton Kanhema and Wendy Rappeport

zilal Kidane Maasho hugged and kissed her longtime neigh- Mbors as grandchildren wailed around her and tears ran down her cheeks. Her husband, Kidane Maasho, also sobbed uncontrollably, as he defiantly insisted, “I have been waiting for this day for 20 years and I am not afraid of returning home. It is sad that I am leaving my friends behind, but I am going back to the land that God gave the Eritreans.” It was a bittersweet moment for the elderly couple, ending deep friendships born in the harshest physical and emo- tional conditions imaginable, but looking forward to returning to a homeland that has changed dramatically but which they have never forgotten. As many as 500,000 civilians fled to Sudan during a bitter 30-year war that followed Ethiopia’s annexation of Er- itrea in the Horn of Africa in 1962. The Maashos fled two decades ago after their village was bombed inces- santly by Ethiopian warplanes, and 13 neighbors were murdered by soldiers. They escaped through the desert, pushing a tiny herd of 20 cattle, don- keys and goats ahead of them. Some col- lapsed because of the dreadful heat before the family reached the compara- tive safety of Sudan where they joined what eventually became one of the largest and oldest refugee communities in the world. Life in this part of Africa is harsh. Winds sweep off the desert, across an unforgiving landscape virtually devoid of trees or even shrubs. It is one of the hottest places on earth during the day with temperatures soaring regularly into the 40s followed by bitterly cold nights. Initially, Maasho took a job as a After three decades, en route home. builder’s assistant in the frontier town of Kassala, earning the equivalent of $2

REFUGEES 27 | ERITREA |

“WE HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO RETURN. WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR AS LONG AS WE HAVE LIVED HERE.”

per week. One by one, he sold his remain- refugee camp which is always prone to or seek a new life in other countries. ing cattle to help his family survive. Even- hardship and violence such as rape. As political conditions improved in the tually, they were forced to move by local There was no work, simply a life of region, UNHCR began registering authorities into one of the scores of refugee numbing boredom and waiting. The refugees, some of whom had been away for camps which had taken root in the area. Maashos made friends and raised seven more than 30 years, to go home. The A few basics such as survival rations children in these forbidding surroundings. Maashos were among the first to sign up.

UNHCR/W. RAPPEPORT/CS•ERI•2001

The journey home begins with prayer Arrival in Tesseney

and a small plot of land were provided in As they grew older, the children drifted But war again intervened and new the Wad Sherife camp. But it was always a away—into the Eritrean army, to Kenya and floods of exiles arrived. The repatriation life lived on the edge. There was no land Saudi Arabia, sometimes losing contact was put on hold when Ethiopia and to grow crops and not even any firewood to with their parents as they disappeared into Eritrea fought each other to a standstill in collect from the empty landscape, com- a widening refugee diaspora. One returned a conflict which finally ended in June last pelling them to buy tiny amounts of char- ‘home’ to Eritrea earlier this year. Another year. Tens of thousands of persons were coal for cooking whenever they had saved died only a few months ago. The Maashos killed in a conflict where deaths became a few cents. drifted into old age in their exile, having so indiscriminate and widespread, it re- to rely on the largesse of one of two mar- sembled at times the mass slaughter of A NEW LIFE ried daughters living in a nearby town for World War I battles. They built two mud huts and an out- the cents to buy their charcoal and food. In May, UNHCR eventually began the side toilet on a small plot. Small sticks were While life in such camps is reduced repatriation of at least some of the more gathered slowly and painfully to construct to one thing, survival, events on the than 170,000 Eritreans still in Sudan. De- a makeshift picket fence around their ‘outside’ moved on. Eritrea peacefully spite anticipated interruptions during the homestead. Privacy and security are es- seceded from Ethiopia in 1993. Refugees rainy season, the refugee agency planned sential in the noisy sprawl of a huge abandoned the camps to return home to return home by arduous road convoy

28 REFUGEES | ERITREA |

more than 60,000 Eritreans this year and GOING HOME old and weak, but I have finally made it continue road convoys until the end of 2002. The Eritrean town of Tesseney serves home.” His wife added, ”We are old and we “We have always wanted to return. We as a staging point for many of the re- want to rest. We have done our part.” have been waiting for this opportunity for turnees. Their welcome is often festive, A nephew jetted in from the United as long as we have lived here,” Kidane but they face a difficult future. Eritrea is States with his children and the Maashos Maasho said in the last remaining minutes one of the world’s poorest countries and made the 10 hour road trip to the Eritrean before heading home. Other Eritreans there is little spare money to help people capital of Asmara to be reunited after 17 married locally, obtained jobs or remained returning with nothing. In addition to the years. Other friends and relatives visited. skeptical about retracing their steps across harsh climate, years of war have wrecked The couple moved into a room on the the African Horn and returning to a coun- the infrastructure. Many refugees have no site of a church overlooking spring waters try they now know little about. homes, water, electricity or land to go back with reported healing properties. Both suf- None of the Maasho children were on to. fer from failing eyesight and each morn- hand for the farewells though three grand- While the refugees return from Sudan, ing the couple join other pilgrims to bathe children arrived to squeal their goodbyes. an estimated 1.1 million people displaced by and pray for a cure in the spring.

UNHCR/S. BONESS/CS•ERI•2001 UNHCR/S. BONESS/CS•ERI•2001 UNHCR/S. BONESS/CS•ERI•2001

Processing Starting life afresh

“Sudan has been very good to me and my the war with Ethiopia are also beginning to A repatriation grant of 2,000 nakfa family,” the old man said through an in- go home, creating further headaches. ($180) has almost been spent and the cou- terpreter. And his final words: “When I But for the moment these uncertainties ple will move back to the west after Mzilal came to Sudan (a strictly Islamic country are forgotten. Unlike their departure from Kidane Maasho undergoes surgery. But where alcohol is forbidden) I used to drink Sudan, a daughter was on hand to greet the despite this uncertain future, the couple IT WAS ALWAYS A LIFE LIVED ON THE EDGE. THERE WAS NO LAND TO GROW CROPS AND NOT EVEN ANY FIREWOOD TO COLLECT FROM THE EMPTY LANDSCAPE.

beer and for the past 20 years I have not Maashos and rented two rooms for them. is optimistic and happy. had a single one. I think it will be nice to “I thank my God to have kept me this long And, yes, Kidane says, “I’ve finally also enjoy my beer again when I return.” to see this day,” Kidane Maasho said. “I am had that beer—it was cold and delicious.” B

REFUGEES 29 | PEOPLE AND PLACES |

New leadership DP•ITA•2001 eteran Tunisian civil servant Vand diplomat Kamel Morjane has been named as UNHCR’s new Assistant © D. VENTURELLI/ High Commissioner. Morjane spent nearly 20 years with the agency before serving as Tunisia’s representative to the U.N. in Geneva and latterly as the U.N. Secretary- General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His appointment completes the restructur- ing of the organization’s leadership. At the beginning of the year former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers began work as the new High Commissioner and Ms. Mary Ann Wyrsch, acting U.S. Immi- gration and Naturalization Service Com- missioner, became Deputy High Com- missioner. B

Pavarotti ‘and friends’ at his annual concert in Modena which raised $2 million for Afghan refugee children in Pakistan. Refugee World Cup

Pavarotti’s Nansen Award COPYRIGHT talian tenor Luciano Pavarotti given annually since 1954 to individuals Ihas been awarded the 2001 Nansen or organizations that have distinguished Refugee Award for his work to focus in- themselves in work on behalf of refugees. ternational attention on the plight of up- Previous recipients include Eleanor Roo- rooted Afghans living in Pakistan. The sevelt, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, award, named after Norwegian polar ex- Médecins Sans Frontières, the late Tan- The Somali winners of the first plorer and the world’s first refugee High zanian President Julius Nyerere and the Refugee World Cup. Commissioner Fridtjof Nansen, has been people of Canada. B t was billed as probably the first IRefugee World Cup in soccer. Fourteen teams composed of asylum seekers and refugees from countries as far flung as Afghanistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan Boat person to high office and Ethiopia took part in the eight-week sa -year-old he spent long competition in London. “Football is A 10 12 days 1980, it wiped out their livelihood yet such an amazing international healer,” aboard an overcrowded and leak- again. Recently, 33-year-old Viet John Barnes, one of England’s most distin- ing boat with virtually no food or wa- D.Dinh was sworn in on a 96-1 Senate guished soccer stars and a supporter of ter. As the craft reached Malaysia it vote as the United States Assistant the competition said. “I have seen from was met with a fusillade of gunfire Attorney General for the Office of overseas trips how football is used with and turned back into the South Chi- Legal Policy, charged with the plan- street children and former child soldiers na Sea. Even when the Vietnamese ning, development and coordination to help instil a sense of personal worth.” youth and his family eventually of major legal policy initiatives. "He Some ofthe teams will now be able to com- made it to the United States, misfor- will bring invaluable perspective and pete in local leagues on a permanent basis. tune followed. They survived by intellect to our pursuit of justice," At- The Somali Horn Stars won the final, 4-3, picking strawberries, but when torney General John Ashcroft said of against the Angolan Cascais on a penalty Mount St. Helens volcano erupted in the former Vietnamese refugee. shootout extensively covered by the media including BBC and CNN. B

30 REFUGEES | QUOTE UNQUOTE |

had stayed with the Macedo- nians when they were refugees two years earlier. FFF

CARTOON: REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION “The more they wait the more they lose. More and more people have decided to catch the last bus.” A refugee official in Bosnia describing an increasing number of people wanting to return and claim their former properties. FFF

“A new century is beginning, but we are lighting fires like Indians. The food we get, we throw to the pigs.” An uprooted ethnic Serb from Kosovo who lives in a collective center in Serbia. FFF

“For us, time stopped that day.” “The old Balkan story of violence and A woman who lost 22 male members of her family, at cere- ethnic cleansing is not yet over.” monies to mark the massacre at Srebrenica, Bosnia, the worst Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to a recent summit meeting. atrocity in Europe since World War II. FFF “The shark has gone, but side her darkened apartment for “We came in together, and there are still some piranhas we will leave together.” “We are the wheel that the first time in a year. never squeaks.” in the water.” U.S. President George Bush, vis- Bosnian Foreign Minister, FFF iting Kosovo, reaffirms Wash- A Roma leader bemoaning the Zlatko Lagumdzija, after hear- ington’s continued military in- fact that his minority is never ing news of the extradition of “It is a day few had imag- volvement in the region. heard in powerful government Slobodan Milosevic to The ined, but many had hoped circles. Hague. for. It is a day that will be FFF remembered not for FFF FFF vengeance, but for justice. “We didn’t know they were It is a victory for account- coming until there was a “More than one million peo- “At first I had a feeling ev- ability over impunity.” knock on the door and there ple in the Balkans remain dis- erything was spinning out of they were.” placed from the conflicts of control. And then I saw the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi the past decade. The last Annan, on Milosevic’s handover A Kosovar family describing the sky and the sun. It was beau- thing the region needs is to the International Criminal arrival of a second family flee- tiful.” more refugees.” Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. ing recent troubles in the former The reaction of an elderly Yugoslav Republic of Macedo- High Commissioner Ruud Lub- Kosovar woman on going out- FFF nia (FYROM). The Kosovars bers on the conflict in FYROM.

REFUGEES 31